Tom to answer your question why the gutters are shaped like that is as follows: I would guess that this building is very tall, no? Since I am 99% sure it is, the reason the are shaped funny is because when liquid falls great distances inside piping, it collects immense speed and power. Falling liquid of more than about 2 stories would knock a hole in even cast iron pipe when it did reach the 90 degree turn. So the plumber needs to "jog" the downspouts before the rainwater gathers too much speed. This is proven. If you could see inside a very tall apartment complex you would see a cactus like array of sewer lines finally reaching the bottom floor and the main line to the outside. The "jog" slows down the flow to a reasonable speed. And if it isn't a tall building, my other guess would be that plumbing code prevents the downspouts from draining directly in the grates on the sidewalk.(posted 8813 days ago)BTW, great image. Excellent light that day.